Any chance the FliteTest store might one day carry the carbon fiber booms that David Windestal offers on RC Explorer for the TriCopter? I ordered a set of 4 for my ElectroHub to test out, but it would be nice to be able to get them from here in the states if possible. I know they're only 10mm vs the 1/2" or 13mm wood booms, but I think with clean wiring the extra height inside won't be missed too much. Wasn't sure if anyone else had thought about these as an upgrade alternative or if tried other materials in place of the wood booms.
 

makattack

Winter is coming
Moderator
Mentor
I believe I heard on the last podcast or maybe it was a video, Josh saying that they are planning on adding carbon booms to a kit. So, your wish is coming... but I don't know how long you may need to wait.
 
I heard that this morning on the VersaCopter Podcast as well, but I wasn't sure if it would be round or square carbon tubes. The pictures of the VersaCopter I saw had round carbon booms front and back in an "I" type configuration. If they do offer round for the electrohub, hopefully they offer some kind of blocking for it so neither the tube nor the plates crush, warp or deform at all. The square tubes would be ideal for that particular airframe since it would just replace the wood without any extra parts or work but most of the cheaper square tubes won't handle the torque very well because of the way they're made. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on the store though. I've added retracts, camera rails and a gimbal and 2nd fpv camera so far with more to come so hopefully the wood will bare the weight in the mean time.

I did go ahead and order a set from David, so hopefully I'll have them in a week or so to start some testing. I have the "Pimp my Flip" board, mini-nav board, and a M8N GPS to install on my Flip 1.5 from Paul at RTF quads. I'll probably hold off on installing all of that until I get the booms in and just do all the work at once. I fly aerial inspection and progress videos on construction sites about once a week so I won't be able to have it apart too long once I start so it's ready for the next weeks site visits.
 

makattack

Winter is coming
Moderator
Mentor
Yeah, I suspect they might go with the round tubes due to the ability to cant motors for fast FPV racing... but, that's just a guess on my part. Just a word of warning on your aerial photography direction: Most people feel that MultiWii just isn't very good at GPS assisted flight modes. I know that MW2.4 has improvements in it, but I haven't any experience myself with it.
 

PHugger

Church Meal Expert
Thanks for the heads up. This being my first larger quad it was intended to be a basic FPV platform to begin getting an idea of what was possible, and what I could do with a next generation version. I've been flying planes and heli's for several years so I got the hang of it pretty quick and one upgrade led to another and another so it's grown much faster than I intended. I am currently looking into a better more capable FC but between my day job of actually designing and doing all of the drawings for the buildings and my new-found second job of aerial pilot for the company, my time for research is dwindling so I got what I could for what I already have for now. I don't anticipate doing too much with the GPS other than position hold at times so hopefully that doesn't tax the Flip 1.5 too much. If I remember correctly the nav board has it's own Atmega 328 chip on board which may or may not help... we'll see. I'm still studying up on all of the ins and outs of the world of MWC.
 
PCH, Thanks for that information as well!! I've looked at the Fortis Frames before, but completely forgot to look at them for the replacement booms. I like the hybrid idea as well! Might even make a Quad 8 configuration a viable option for me when its time to upgrade my camera and gimbal setup. On the list for my next spare parts order! Thanks again.